1950 IFA Shield final

East Bengal team with the 1950 IFA Shield trophy.

The IFA Shield final began at the East Bengal–Mohun Bagan Ground in Kolkata on 16 September 1950 in front of a packed crowd as Kolkata giants East Bengal faced Services. East Bengal, the defending champions, reached their seventh final, having won thrice in 1943, 1945 and 1949, after defeating Sporting Union 2–1 in the semi-final. Services made their first appearance in the final after they defeated Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan 2–1 in the semi-final.[1] This was the first time that the IFA Shield final was being held at the East Bengal–Mohun Bagan Ground.

East Bengal started as the favorites in front of their home crowd as the defending champions and with a star-studded forward line consisting of the famous Pancha Pandavas, East Bengal dominated the game from the beginning and scored the first goal in the eighth minute of the match after Pansanttom Venkatesh and Apparao interchanged between themselves and put a forward pass for K. P. Dhanraj who scored through a powerful grounded shot to make it 1–0. East Bengal doubled their lead just five minutes before the half time after P. B. A. Saleh scored with a grounder, after he was set through on goal by Ahmed Khan. East Bengal scored their third goal just ten minutes before the end of the play after Apparao again played Dhanraj through on goal, who got his second of the match as East Bengal won their fourth IFA Shield title and thus became the first-ever club to win the coveted Double – League and Shield champions for the third time (previously: 1945 and 1949), surpassing the record held by Gordon Highlanders (1908 and 1909), Calcutta FC (1922 and 1923) and Mohammedan Sporting (1936 and 1941); who had won the double twice.[2][3][4]